4 habits the twins kept from Strucker and 1 they got from the Avengers
by comade
Summary: As the Avengers get closer to the twins, they start noticing little habits they have, scars that their past left them.


It all had happened really fast. That was a really cliché thing to say, but it couldn't be more accurate given that it concerned Pietro, also called the fastest man alive. Or the fastest idiot alive, for Clint.

They were just training, all gathered in the same room for once, except for Bruce and Tony who were too caught up in their experiments in the lab to join them in their team training. It was just the beginning, and they were all warming up on their own, some were wrestling, like Natasha and Wanda, some where lifting weights like Steve and Clint, and some were just focusing on their abilities like Pietro. The young man wasn't going really fast, using the enhanced treadmill Tony had built him. He was going fast enough to warm his legs up, but not pushing his limits yet. It was supposed to be easy, a piece of cake, and yet, the silver-haired man could feel his legs growing weaker, and his vision getting blurry. He slowed down the speed, remembering the one time he decided to keep going at full speed even though he wasn't feeling good and ended up projected away from the device, painfully crashing into the opposite wall.

"Already tired, Maximoff?" he heard Clint snicker from a few feet away.

Usually, he would have responded by fastening his pace just to shut the archer's mouth, but here, he couldn't even pay attention to Clint's words. Black spots were clouding his vision, his balance was getting worse by the seconds, and there was a constant buzzing sound in his head, distracting him from the others. He couldn't hear Clint's suddenly concern words at the sight of the young man's exhausted expression. He tried to reach for the treadmill's screen, about to stop it, but his hand was alarmingly shaking. Pietro suddenly felt a hand on his, and the device stopped. He looked up, and was about to step down from the treadmill when his legs gave out. He winced, preparing for the impact, but everything went black before he could even feel his knees painfully hitting the ground.

If the thud from the impact hadn't already drawn everyone's attention to the incident, Clint's shouts definitely did. He was kneeling next to Pietro, checking his pulse with worry painted all over his face. He had joined the young man as soon as he noticed that something was wrong, and was the one who stopped the treadmill, but the brunet hadn't been fast enough to catch the speedster during his fall.

"What happened?" Steve asked, kneeling down next to him.

Wanda was standing a few meters away from them, a hand covering her mouth and her eyes wide. Natasha stood next to her, a comforting hand on the young woman's shoulder. Clint shook his head, saying that he didn't know.

Steve was the first to react, putting a hand underneath Pietro's knees and one behind his back to lift him up, before carrying him as fast as possible in the medical wing. It took him less than one minute to join the other side of the building, and in less than three minutes, Dr Cho had already done her diagnostic.

"He suffers from hypoglycemia-" They all sighed in relief, a reassured smile appearing on their faces. "-caused by a slight case of malnutrition."

That instantly drew their interest back to her, as they stared at her with wide eyes. Wanda was the only one who looked away, looking embarrassed and guilty. Clint shook his head, saying that he didn't even understand how Pietro could have suffered from hypoglycemia. They had all eaten together at lunch, and even after, when the archer had noticed that the runner looked a little pale, he had given him something to eat to be sure he wouldn't faint. Dr Cho frowned, and said that he must have gotten something wrong, when Natasha suddenly cut her off, saying that she noticed Pietro kept putting his food aside as if he was waiting for someone else to take it, and that he really didn't usually eat a lot.

This seemed to remind Dr Cho of something, who suddenly sat down on her chair, slamming the palm of her hand against her forehead as she closed her eyes. "I can't believe I forgot this..." she sighed, shaking her head shamefully. She grabbed her clipboard, quickly going through Pietro's medical files.

"Wanda warned me about this during our first medical check up. They shared food while they lived in the streets and he would always act like he wasn't hungry to give her as much food as he could. She was afraid the habit had sticked." she absent-mindely explained, before finally finding the paper she was looking for. "Yeah, I wrote it there. I was supposed to survey this, but I guess I got too caught up in work. It won't happen again." she said in an apologetic tone.

A heavy silence settled between them, as everyone in the room just looked at Pietro's unconscious body. One by one, people started quitting the room, leaving Clint and Wanda alone in the end. They were sitting on both side of the bed, and spent almost half an hour in silence, before the archer asked her how long they had lived in the street. They started talking quietly about their past, sometimes grinning about the stupid things Pietro would have done, or smiling gently at the stupidly heroic things he would have tried to keep her safe.

After two hours, Pietro finally woke up, finding a note on his nightstand, right next to an entire bag of candies and bars. He took the note, and couldn't help but grin at the sight of the words written on it. " _Don't ever do that again, you idiot. People care about you, so please, eat."_

They couldn't just make them forget their past in the blink of an eye, they couldn't just tell them that they were safe now and expect them to act normally. They knew that the road was going to be long and tumultuous, but the twins were worth the effort.

* * *

Tony was walking down the corridor, heading towards the elevator to join his lab, when he heard gruntings and pantings coming from a room. He arched an eyebrow, intrigued, and stopped in the middle of the corridor, taking a few steps back to see from where the sounds were coming. Usually, he would have jumped to conclusions, gruntings and pantings didn't mean a lot of things, but he was in the Avengers' Tower, they were all inhibited, except Clint, who was married, and Pietro, who... Alright, maybe he could have jumped to conclusions, but he'd rather not. He really hoped Pietro wasn't actually doing it with the door open at three in the afternoon.

Turned out the sounds were actually coming from Wanda, who was trying to push her bed to the other side of her room. Tony kept staring at her with an eyebrow arched, and at one point he was kind of surprised she didn't notice him, standing right in front of her opened door. She looked like she was struggling, putting her entire weight in her attempt to push it from the right wall to the left. He would have asked her why she wasn't just using her powers if she hadn't already told them that sometimes using her powers was more tiring than just doing the thing. She'd rather move things by her own than making the effort of using her magic for something that ordinary.

"Need a hand?" he asked after a few minutes, crossing his arms against his chest.

She threw a quick glance toward him, and shook her head. "No... No I'm... I'm good." she articulated through her panting. "God why do they make these so heavy." she then added under her breath.

She sighed, and straighten up, putting her hands on her hips. "Time to give up." she said, lifting her hand to move with her powers the bed in one swift movement. The furniture got lifted up by a red aura, which sent him crashing brutaly into the left wall, cracking it in somes places. Wanda winced, but ended up just shrugging before getting back to work, grabbing her pillows to make her bed. Tony gave her a strange look, but was about to go on his way, when Pietro appeared next to him, heading towards his room. He only had time to unlock his door before Tony called him out, while still having his eyes glued on Wanda. "Did she officially lose her mind?" the genius asked, jerking his chin towards Wanda. "Or is this a new kind of training I wasn't told about?"

Pietro arched an eyebrow, and took a few steps back to stand next to the brunet, leaving his door wide open. He gave Tony a confused look when he saw nothing but his sister putting covers on her bed, and in response, the genius pointed at the now empty place where her bed was before, and at the cracks that now decorated the left wall of her room. After finally understanding that the genius meant to ask him why Wanda was moving her bed, Pietro shrugged, answering that she simply prefered to sleep on the left side of her room. "... That's all?" Tony asked, kind of disappointed by the outcome.

"In the cells, our beds were next to each other, just separated by a wall, and thanks to that we could talk each other out of our panic attacks at night." Pietro resumed, his voice suddenly lower and filled with nostalgy. "Weirdly, here, her bed also needs to be on the left side to be closer to mine."

Tony glanced at him, his eyebrows knitted in concern. Maybe asking him to explain further wasn't a good idea. Now, he felt like he needed to say something, to comfort him in a way or another, but he really wasn't good at this kind of things. Usually, Cap or Clint were always there to talk about their past with them, Tony would just add a sarcastic or stupid remark here and there. He wasn't made for comforting people, the best thing he could do was probably to keep talking about this while ignoring how hurt the other could sound. He knew that, even though he didn't mean to, he would end up making the situation worse if he tried to be sentimental with Pietro. Plus, the runner was still a little cold with him, he probably didn't want the genius to be nosy.

"But you're not in your cells anymore, why does she keep doing this?"

Pietro looked at Tony as if he was an idiot, which was probably the case at that moment. He rolled his eyes, and asked the brunet why he kept reaching for his cup when he was working even though he had officially chosen to stop coffee after 2am. Tony winced, realizing how stupid his question was. He had been trying so hard not to cross any boundaries and to just keep asking about Wanda that he had ended up looking dumb. He hated that, he was a genius for god's sake.

"... I guess I kept the habit." he sighed, wishing he could take back his question.

"You got your answer." Pietro retorted, before walking into his room without another word.

* * *

Steve wasn't usually the one to get mad, he was the calm one, who talked with a soft voice and patted the other's shoulder to confort him. He never got mad, because he wanted his teammates to trust him, but here, the situation was different. When it came to missions, he could easily lose his temper. The stake was too high, and he didn't allow any careless mistake on the battlefield. Pietro would usually be the one to act negligent and inattentive during missions. Steve would give him disapproving glares, slightly shaking his head, but Pietro was still cautious enough not to cause any problem, so things never went further. The day he actually had to warn the young man about his behavior, the speedster accepted the criticism, silently nodding with understanding painted all over his face. He knew that Steve only wanted what was good for his team, and that included his sister, so he didn't say anything back.

But this day, Wanda's carelessness was enough to anger Steve. If given time, Steve would have been more understanding. He would have remembered Sokovia, instantly understanding why Wanda had freaked out when she had heard Pietro cursing in his earpiece before losing contact. The thing was that she had left her position right in the middle of the mission to go check on him, and that between that moment and their reunion at the end, he didn't really have the time to think about why what she had done could be forgivable. They were all already in the quinjet when Steve arrived, his steps heavy and his eyes were filled with disapproval. His eyes scanned the place, and quickly settled on Wanda, the one he was looking for. The blond walked toward her at an angry, fast pace, and didn't even notice when Pietro suddenly went to stand next to her, abandonning the quiet conversation he was having with Clint. "What was that, Maximoff?" he asked calmly, hardly containing his anger.

"I..." Wanda began, searching her words. "I'm sorry, I just thought..."

"You cannot do that, not on my watch." Steve scowled, absent-mindely clenching his fists. He took a step forward, and resumed. "I can't let you desert your-"

Pietro suddenly stepped in front of Wanda, interrupting him. "We still saved the people, didn't we?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. Steve sighed, retorting that it wasn't the point. He looked back at Wanda, ignoring her brother, and was about to continue when the young man cut him off again. "Well, yes, it is. What's the point if it's not saving people?" he argued, crossing his arms. Steve sighed, and closed his eyes, clenching and unclenching his fists in a vain attempt of calming himself.

"Stop doing that." he told Pietro, his voice firm and commanding. Surprisingly, he only managed to make Pietro smirk, forgetting for a second how insolent the young man could be. Pietro asked him what he was supposed to stop doing, even though he totally knew what Steve was saying. He was just trying to get on his nerves, and easily succeeding.

"Stop talking back." Steve hissed through gritted teeth.

The tension started getting unbearable, drawing the other's attention toward their argument. Steve was trying to stay calm, to keep acting as the supportive and trustworthy figure that he wanted to be in this team, but he could feel his blood boiling. He felt like a commander reprimanding his soldiers. He didn't want to get mad at him, he didn't want to look angry, but it seemed like they couldn't understand that he was just doing this for their safety, and this made him flip out. It wasn't just an ordinary argument, a mission was involved, it was dangerous, they couldn't act carelessly like that and then not listen to him. What if they died? He felt like he was in charge of them, he couldn't let them act like that.

But, as Steve was about to start to calm down, seeing Clint and Natasha looking at them with attention, ready to intervene at any moment, Pietro suddenly took another step forward.

"Then stop being an asshole." he growled back, now only a few inches away from him.

Steve clenched once again his fists, making his knuckles crack. He didn't see Pietro's eyes quickly flickering to his hands with a worried frown, and was about to talk again, his voice shaking with anger but still composed, when Clint stepped in, putting a hand on his chest to push him back. "Hey, step back, I'll take care of him later, alright?" he mumbled, giving Steve a look that clearly told him to tone it down. The archer glanced back at Pietro and saw that this one was giving Steve a wary look, still standing a little in front of Wanda. Sighing, Clint kept pushing Steve until they were aside from the others, and crossed his arms, giving the blond a pointed look.

"He needs to stop, Clint. He needs to learn to obey." Steve exclaimed, starting to pace in a frustrated manner.

Clint sighed and rested his back against the quinjet's wall, preparing himself for what was going to be a long conversation. He threw a quick glance towards the twins again, just in time to see Wanda punching Pietro's shoulder, making the brunet grin. She was scowling at him, probably lecturing him for what he had just done, but he simply shrugged, before ruffling her hair. "He can't keep that attitude, especially not when it comes to missions." Steve resumed, drawing Clint's attention back to him. The archer turned his head toward the soldier, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Don't you understand what he's doing?" he asked calmly.

"What?" Steve frowned, suddenly stopping in his pace to give the brunet a confused look.

"He's protecting his sister. As long as he talk back, you shout at him and you don't pay attention to her. That's the point."

Pietro got this habit from his years under Strucker's experiments. When the guards came to pick up one of them, he would upset them until they chose him. It was the exact same thing here. Wanda had explained it to him weeks ago during training. Clint was really tired that day, easily losing his temper, and may had risen his voice a little to high while explaining to Wanda that she would not be able to learn how to shoot as long as she was afraid of the weapon she was holding. Pietro was nearby and had immediately started an argument with the archer, before his sister had gotten mad too, telling him that he could not do that every time, and that he needed to lay off a little. The young man hadn't answered, storming off without another word, and, seeing Clint's confused look, Wanda had felt the need to explain the situation to him. Pietro didn't just pick an argument to be annoying, he did it for her, but she didn't want that. She didn't want him to be in trouble just because he thought she needed protection.

While explaining all of this to Steve, the archer could see the colors slowly draining from his face as he realized what this meant. Pietro did this to protect Wanda, which meant he thought she needed protection. He didn't think they were safe yet. "But... we're not Strucker, why does he feel the need to do that?" the soldier asked, his voice soft and betrayed.

"They have trust issues, Steve. Especially Pietro. They went through a lot and he doesn't know if he can trust us yet. He still feels in danger when you yell at him or at his sister."

Steve turned his head, glancing at the twins from the corner of his eyes, a hint of desolation filling his irises. "... I didn't know." he sighed, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. Clint just shrugged, retorting that he couldn't know, and that it didn't mean that he needed to treat them differently. It just meant that he needed to be a little more patient with them.

Steve sighed, his eyes still glued on the two new members of the team, who were now quietly talking with Natasha. They all tended to forget Pietro and Wanda weren't just young and reckless. They probably liked to think they were just bratty because it was always better than aknowledging how broken the twins truly were.

* * *

Wanda always kept a hand around Pietro's wrist. It was just an habit she had, nothing important, and, usually it would have gone unnoticed if Vision wasn't so observant. It started when he began wanting to show his affection towards Wanda. She had just gotten into the team with her brother, and they both had a hard time getting integrated. Everyone was nice with them but Wanda still didn't trust them enough, and Pietro just didn't try. While her brother was getting closer to Clint through arguments and smirks, Wanda took affection in Vision. He knew she still felt quite shy around him, like she didn't belonged there, so he wanted to show her that he was there for her.

He did his research, watched people interracting, and noticed that people usually showed their affection with subtle touches. It could go from fingertips barely brushing against someone's skin, to holding hands. He didn't know if it was appropriate for his relationship with Wanda, but he guessed holding hands was alright. A lot of people did it, and they all had different relationship, it could go from friends, to family, or even lovers.

Vision wanted to hold Wanda's hand, and at one point it wasn't just to show her that he was there for her anymore, it was just a deep desire, an urge, it made his fingers twitch by his sides. These kind of reactions almost made him feel like he was human, like he belonged here. But, each time it happened, each time he was in the same room as her, ready to try, she was next to Pietro, and her hand was already taken, wrapped around her brother's wrist. It happened several times, and Vision never had the opportunity to softly take her hand in his. He could have taken the other hand, but even he, with his poor social skills, knew that it would have been more than awkward. She would have noticed, it wouldn't have been natural anymore, and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

Each time it happened, Vision thought that it didn't matter, that he would do it the next time, but each time he had another opportunity, her hand was once again holding Pietro's wrist. So he started wondering why she was doing this. She wasn't holding his hand like the young siblings he saw would often do while walking, she only had her fingers wrapped around his wrist. Vision also knew that people used to seek touch if they felt scared or uncomfortable, but that wasn't the case. There was no explaination for this. But, when Vision started believing it was probably just an old habit, he noticed her fingers were precisely placed where she could feel his pulse. It wasn't just a coincidence, sometimes he would even notice her wrapping her hand around his wrist a little too high, her eyebrows slightly creasing, before lowering them absent-mindely, placing them right on his pulse. It was like she was checking it. It wasn't normal, it wasn't just siblings holding hands, and at this point, Vision needed someone else to answer his questions.

"I noticed Wanda is often checking Pietro's pulse. Does he require medical attention?"

Tony was working on his computer, but suddenly stopped typing, giving him a strange look, one eyebrow arched. He seemed to hesitate, but shook his head. "I don't think so." he shrugged, before going back to his computer. Steve, who was reading a file a few feet away, caught bribes of their conversation, and looked up, curious.

"Is something wrong with Pietro?" he asked, his eyebrows knitted in confusion.

Vision explained the whole situation to him, while Tony listened absent-mindely. At the end of his explaination, Steve just shrugged, telling him that Pietro was supposed to be in a good shape, and that he didn't need to worry about him. The problem should have ended there. But, it obviously didn't.

After this, Steve and Tony started noticing it too, and their stares intrigued the others members of the team, who ended up learning about it or seeing it on their own. At the end, everyone knew about this, but no one had a clue about why she did this. They started questionning each other, and, not surprisingly, immediately began betting. Some of them thought that it just made her feel more comfortable, and others thought that it was just an habit she kept, given that they had a pretty codependent relationship after what they went through together. At one point, Natasha got tired of their ranting, and decided to take matters in her own hand. She waited for the perfect opportunity, a moment where they should be all gathered, and where Wanda would have her hand wrapped around her brother's wrist, and acted.

"Why do you always have your hand around his wrist?" she asked her in a disinterested voice, trying to sound as casual as possible, which wasn't really complicated for her.

Silence instantly fell into the room, and everyone was now looking at them, a hand instinctivally reaching for their wallet, already regretting the huge stake they had bet. Wanda looked down at her hand, her eyebrows slightly knitting, as if she was just realizing it. She looked up at her brother, giving him an hesitant look. She knew from where she had this habit, and explaining it would reveal a big part of her brother's past. She needed his permission. Pietro immediately understood what she was waiting for, and shrugged. He didn't like talking about it, or even just mentioning it, but he wouldn't forbid her to tell the others.

"We weren't alone during our first weeks in Hydra. There was a lot of people who signed to be part of the experiments, and... They all died. One by one." She made a pause, swallowing a lump in her throat, her mouth suddenly too dry. "Pietro's heart stopped beating a few times. They managed to bring him back every time, unlike the others, but I was always terrified he would just go to sleep and never wake up, so I kept checking his pulse. I guess I just kept the habit of having my hand around his wrist."

The silence that fell back between them was suddenly too heavy, as they all just looked at each other, unsure of what to say. It was probably the worst explaination she could have given them. They were expecting a sweet habit from a girl who was just really attached to her twin, but they tended to forget where they both came from. They had a dark past, just like every member of this team, but they wished the twins didn't keep so many scars from it. They wished they had the power to heal them.

* * *

But there was one habit they got from the avengers, one habit that came with time. The twins sang. They sang a lot. While Wanda was cooking the dinner, or when Pietro was taking a shower, there was always a moment in the day when they would hear the brunette quiet melodies or the young man's loud voice. It didn't go unnoticed when they first started doing it. When they started living with the avengers, they stayed quiet, only talking to each other. While Wanda greeted them with a polite smile, and took part of the conversation with wise remarks, Pietro only just aknowledged their presence with a nod and grudgingly stayed with them a little before disappearing for the night. They didn't trust them enough to feel comfortable around them, and Pietro was more than wary.

This was why after a month, when Wanda started absent-mindely humming a song while cooking breakfast, Clint, who had been trying to integrate them to the team for months, instantly stopped what he was doing, and looked at her, a gentle smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He turned his head, glancing at Pietro, and saw that this one was also looking at her with a hint of affection sparkling in his blue eyes. At this moment, the archer didn't know this would become a real nightmare for him.

They kept singing, never at the same time, always absent-mindely, and at one point everyone started noticing it. One time, when they were talking about it during their absence, their voices as calm and serious as usual but their eyes filled with tenderness and affection, Vision told them that it meant that they started to feel comfortable around them, and that it was probably the first time in a while that they felt truly safe. It seemed really sweet and adorable at the time. It wasn't.

Clint didn't know if he could put up with their singing anymore. Or, more precisely, with Pietro's singing. He didn't mind when it was just a simple melody the young man had just heard on the radio, or a lullaby from his childhood he sang under the shower, but then he started doing it more frequently, not minding the other's presence anymore, especially Clint's. The archer didn't know if it was the accent, the low voice or the husky tone he had in the morning, but his singing was probably the most attractive thing he had ever heard, and the lyrics of his new favorite band didn't help. He hated it, he hated the way his voice would instantly draw Clint's attention to him, he hated how flustered Pietro's raspy voice made him feel, and he especially hated the way one of Dr Cho's assistant looked at the silver-haired man when he was caught quietly humming a song while changing one of his bandages. At least, the runner wasn't aware of the effect his singing had on the archer, even though Clint didn't think it could get any worse.

"Secrets I have held in my heart, are harder to hide than I thought." Clint suddenly froze, and looked away from the bow he was cleaning, his eyes falling onto Pietro. "Maybe I just wanna be yours."

The silver-haired man was walking down the corridor, typing on his phone as he walked past the training room. The brunet clenched his fists, and let out a deep sigh. He had been hearing this song for days now, and he was now convinced the runner was doing it on purpose. Clint suddenly saw Pietro turn his head towards him, having heard his sigh. The young man smirked, and looked him up and down before resuming his walk, disappearing in the corridor. As if the innuendos with the lyrics weren't already enough. Clint got up, knowing that Pietro was walking towards the changing room and would soon come here to train, and got out of the room, looking for a place where he wouldn't hear anyone singing.

 _I hate it. I hate Pietro, I hate the twins, and I hate this damn new habit._ Clint fulminated as he walked down the corridors, heading towards the kitchen to grab something to eat before going to Natasha's room to seek some calm. Even his room wasn't safe anymore since Pietro had mysteriously found Clint's code. He would sometimes open his door to find this idiot laying on his bed, typing on his phone while chuckling like a decerebrate teenager from a cliché movie.

"Ночь пришла, tемноту привела."

The brunet slowed down as he got closer to the kitchen, distinctly hearing Wanda's lullaby. He reached the room, and stopped at the entrance, leaning against the doorframe. She was pealing an apple while quietly humming the song her mom used to sing them at night. Vision was cooking on the other side of the counter, but was distracted by her, looking at her with a soft smile on his face, a hint of affection sparkling in his eyes.

Clint shook his head, an irrepressible smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Alright, maybe it wasn't that bad.

* * *

"We can do it on the kitchen floor, give me what I'm begging for-"

"I swear, one more word and I-"

"I just wanna get some."

Alright, maybe it _was_ that bad.


End file.
